A special collection to benefit the Diocesan Priests’ Retirement Fund will be held in parishes in the Diocese of Wilmington the weekend of May 19-20. The annual collection began in 2015 to supplement the fund due to growing priest pension needs.
“Currently about 30 percent of our diocesan priests are retired with many more either approaching retirement age, or working past 70 – the usual age of retirement for diocesan priests,” said the Most Reverend W. Francis Malooly, Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, “It is our obligation as a Church family to assure that our retired diocesan priests – who have dedicated their lives to care for the spiritual needs of the Catholic community of Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore – are taken care of in their golden years.”
The Diocesan Office of Communications recently released a new video that profiles three retired priests, Father Ed Aigner, Msgr. Charles Brown, and Father Dan Gerres. In the video the retirees talk about their many years of priestly ministry and how they are spending retirement as “Uber Priests,” helping out at various parishes in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The video can be seen on the Diocesan website – www.cdow.org or on its YouTube page – www.YouTube.com/DioceseofWilm.
Fr. Mark Kelleher, Vicar for Retired Priests for the Diocese, will discuss the challenges retired priests face and the need for the special collection, on the May 13, 2018 episode of Catholic Forum, the radio program/podcast of the Diocesan Communications Office. Catholic Forum is heard on Sunday mornings at 10:05 a.m. on WDEL 101.7 FM and 1150 AM. After it airs, the program is available anytime online at www.cdow.org/communications or by searching Catholic Forum on Apple or iHeartRadio podcasts.
Since its inception, the special collection has added over $205 thousand to the Diocesan Priests’ Retirement fund.
